Paint roller cleaner



Feb. 6, 1962 P. GARRETT PAINT ROLLER CLEANER Filed Dec. 11, 1959 INV EN TOR. Pair- 6% Z far 5 United States Patent ()fifice 3,019,467 Patented Feb. 6, 1962 3,019,467 PAINT ROLLER CLEANER Patrick L. Garrett, 463 W. Hollywood, Detroit, Mich. Filed Dec. 11, 1959, Ser. No. 858,891 4 Claims. (Cl. 15-236) This invention relates to a novel and improved cleaner for paint rollers.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a more efllcient and easily used device of the kind indicated which is adapted to be circumposed upon and moved lengthwise of a paint roller, while being manually compressed around the roller only to the degree necessary to controllably scrape and push off excess surface paint from the roller, or while manually compressed to a greater degree, necessary to squeeze the roller so as to expel therefrom paint or a cleaning solution applied to the roller for the removal of paint from the roller.

Another object of the invention is to provide a substantially tubular device of the character indicated above which has an internal scraper rib, and flared ends which prevent binding of the device on a. roller while being moved therealong under compression, and which enables gauging and controlling the amount of paint or cleaning solution removed from the roller.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simpler and less expensive device of the character indicated above, which can be made, in one-piece form, from a variety of resilient materials, such as sheet metal and plastics, and which lasts indefinitely in service.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following descrip tion and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation showing a device of the invention applied to a paint roller;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1, a users hand being shown applied to the device in phantom lines;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the device being moved downwardly upon and compressed upon a paint roller in vertical position, for squeezing and pushing paint or solution off the lower end of the roller;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the device;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal section taken through FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a section like FIGURE 5, taken through another form of the invention.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like and related numerals designate like and related parts, and first to FIGURES 1 to 5, the device therein illustrated and generally designated 10, comprises a split resilient cylindrical sleeve 12 of resilient sheet material, which is preferably longitudinally elongated in form and on the order of from two to three and onehalf inches long. The sleeve 12 has a side wall 14 which is longitudinally divided to provide normally spaced and facing longitudinal free edges 16. The internal diameter of the sleeve is such as to permit of its being easily engaged endwise over the compressible fabric sleeve 18 of a paint roller 29, and is preferably somewhat larger in diameter than the roller sleeve.

On the ends of the cleaner sleeve side wall 14 are formed laterally and longitudinally outwardly flared flanges 22, which are continuous around the side wall 14, and which are preferably convexly curved inward surfaces 24, which facilitate movement of the device It), in opposite directions along the roller sleeve 18, without binding thereon and without abrading the roller sleeve.

Formed on the side wall 14, preferably at the midiength point thereof, is an internal scraper and pusher rib 26, which preferably extends continuously around the side wall 14, and has convergent flat sides 2% which. meet in a scraping edge 30.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGURES 1 to 5, the rib 26 is shown as being solid and rectangular. However, the form and Shape of the rib can be varied, as illustrated in FIGURE 6, wherein the device Ida therein shown is the same in construction as the device 16, but the rib 26a thereof is formed by indenting the side Wall 14a, and has a convex-concave cross section which provides rounded or arcuate sides 28a thereon and a rounded scraping edge 3lla.

In order to remove from a paint roller sleeve 18 a. slight excess of paint thereon, either of the above described devices is engaged endwise on the sleeve, slightly compressed by hand, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, and moved toward either end of the sleeve 18, so that the excess paint is scraped and pushed off either end of the sleeve 13. Where it is desired to resume painting with a dried paint roller, the paint impregnated roller can be treated with cleaning solution to dissolve and dilute the paint impregnated therein, whereupon either of the devices is applied to the roller, with relatively great manual compression on the roller, the roller upended and the paint and solution squeezed and scraped off the lower end of the roller, as shown in FIGURE 3, and the roller then inverted and paint and solution squeezed and scraped off the other end of the roller.

Besides preventing binding on and abrading of a paint roller sleeve 18, the flared flanges 22 or the end of the devices enable the user to observe the depth of squeeze being imposed on the sleeve 18 and the rate and amount of removal of paint and/ or solution from the sleeve 18 as the devices are moved thereon, so that removal therefrom from the sleeve can be controlled and regulated.

Although there have been shown and described herein preferred forms of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structures of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A paint roller cleaner consisting of an elongated cylindrical resilient longitudinally split compressible sleeve, said sleeve having free longitudinal edges which are spaced from each other, said sleeve having normally an internal diameter not substantially less than the outside diameter of a paint roller to be cleaned and adapted to be circumposed on and moved lengthwise of the roller for cleaning the same, said sleeve being adapted to be manually compressed to a diameter smaller than the outside diameter of a roller on which the sleeve is circumposed.

2. A paint roller cleaner consisting of an elongated cylindrical resilient longitudinally split compressible sleeve, said sleeve having free longitudinal edges which are spaced from each other, said sleeve having normally an internal diameter not substantially less than the outside diameter of a paint roller to be cleaned and adapted to be circumposed on and moved lengthwise of the roller for cleaning the same, said sleeve being adapted to be manually compressed to a diameter smaller than the outside diameter of a roller on which the sleeve is circumposed, said sleeve being shorter than a paint roller to be cleaned and having outwardly flared annular flanges on its ends.

3. A paint roller cleaner consisting of an elongated cylindrical resilient longitudinally split compressible sleeve, said sleeve having free longitudinal edges which are spaced from each other, said sleeve having normally an internal diameter not substantially less than the outside diameter of a paint roller to be cleaned and adapted to be circumposed on and moved lengthwise of the roller for cleaning the same, said sleeve being adapted to be manually compressed to a diameter smaller than the outside diameter of a roller on which the sleeve is circumposed, said sleeve having an internal annular scraper rib spaced from its ends.

4. A paint roller cleaner consisting of an elongated cylindrical resilient longitudinally split compressible sleeve, said sleeve having free longitudinal edges which are spaced from each other, said sleeve having normally an internal diameter not substantially less than the outside diameter of a paint roller to be cleaned and adapted to be circumposed on and moved lengthwise of the roller for cleaning the same, said sleeve being adapted to be manually compressed to a diameter smaller than the outside diameter of a roller on which the sleeve is circumposed, said sleeve having an internal annular scraper rib spaced from its ends, and outwardly flared annular flanges on its ends.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

